A Snowball's Chance
by blackwolfmajik
Summary: Pre-DAO - Cullen's attention is snagged by an apprentice with a penchant for Frost. Cullen/F!Mage


**Dragon Age: Origins: (Standard disclaimer: I OWN NADA!)**

**Soundtrack:** '_Forbidden Friendship_' - How to Train Your Dragon.

**Rating:** E for Everyone!

**Pairing:** Cullen/F!Mage

**AN:** _Please review! I love hearing from everyone, :D_

* * *

**A Snowball's Chance**

It started with a snowball.

The apprentice looked aghast as the icy slush dribbled into Cullen's armor, making him hiss from the cold. She had been learning how to make snow and had lost concentration, flinging the half-formed mass in the air. Maker's luck had it land on his head.

Her stammered apologies and blazing cheeks would have been amusing if he hadn't felt his skin about to crawl off his bones from goose bumps.

He assured her that nothing was damaged, and she scampered off to her next class while he searched for a towel.

-o~O~o-

She was in the library very late, so focused on the crystal of ice between her hands that she didn't even notice when the watch changed. The spell unraveled and she frowned, looking at her hands like it was their fault. When she sighed, the long hair that had fallen into her eyes flew out in a puff of frosty fog.

At least she wasn't flinging it around anymore, a year of training had made a significant difference.

Cullen thought it was cute how her tongue stuck out when she concentrated. He quickly straightened his expression when the Knight Commander walked by.

-o~O~o-

Apprentices streamed through the halls, but he always seemed to find her in the crowd. She was taller now, her promised beauty starting to fill out her robes in places his eyes wished to linger. To make it worse, the lovelier she became, the more his tongue tripped over the simplest words when she was around.

Sometimes he hid in the Chantry, spending as much time praying that the others didn't find him blushing as he did on his Dedications.

-o~O~o-

Spring filled the tower with golden light and she skipped past him with a crown of elfroot flowers in her hair. He thought he should reprimand her for stealing from the Tower herb garden, but couldn't get his mouth to form the words.

She was laughing with her friends, but before they rounded the corner she cast a glance back at him.

She grinned and Cullen felt his cheeks flame like a summer sun.

When she was gone, he picked up a flower she had left in her wake. It smelled sweet, like blue eyes and secret smiles.

He tucked the fragile bloom into his gauntlet for safe keeping.

-o~O~o-

She was amazing. The tiny crystal of water grew into a large frosted bubble between her skilled fingers. Inside he could see a little village made of ice with tiny flakes of snow drifting down on the houses. It looked like a winter vision of his home near Honleath.

He had told her about it once, stammered out a story of his youth between fleeting glances and shy smiles. She had nodded thoughtfully as he rambled on about places she had never heard of and would never get to see.

He never expected her to remember.

She gave a crow of triumph when the ball floated free of her hands, joyful at the perfectly crafted spell. She giggled and danced around, sending snow out in all directions of the library.

The magic brushed across his senses and he knew it would grow further, alerting others if he let it. Suddenly gripped with a fearful need to keep her secret, he broke from the wall and rushed through the flurry of dainty flakes.

He grasped her shoulders and was suddenly bare inches from her laughing face. Her blue eyes went wide with surprise, but then she smiled even more when she saw it was him.

She said his name, the sound of it borne on a cloud.

Snow was falling all around them and it was nothing to lean in, to feel her warm lips on his.

* * *

_**AN:** I love this song so much, it actually makes me cry it's so beautifully done. I hadn't heard it for a while and it came back around on my iPod - like a lightbulb, this story popped into my head almost fully formed._

_Remember! Reviews make us all better!_


End file.
